T 11 E 



French in Our Revolution 



THR MAROUIS LAFAYFTTF 



^ 



JOHN S. TUCKER, 






The French in Our Revolution. 



THE MARUUIS LAFAYETTE 



IN the summer of 1776 a young French officer was stationed 
at Met^., then one of the most important of the frontier 
fortresses of France. The Duke of (Gloucester, brother to the 
King of England, was at the same time visiting the Continent, 
and stoi)i)ed at Metz in the course of his travels. A dinner 
was given in his honor by the Due de Broglie, then com- 
manding that post, and our young officer, who was of noble 
descent and tlistinguished connections, was invited to be i)resent. 

The Duke had recently received dispatches from England 
containing, among other matters, the latest news from the war 
then waging between (Ireat Britain and her American Colonies. 
The conversation at the dinner table very naturally turned on 
this topic, and the Duke gave his hearers all the information 
in his |)jssession upjn the subject. He recounted the various 
stei)s of the rebellion, the discontent of the Americans, the 
passage of the Stamp Act, the refusal of the colonies to sub- 
mit to its enforcement, the measures adopted by the British 
Ministry to compel submission, the subsequent hostilities, and the 
preparations making by the mother country to enforce her au- 
thority. 

The young officer listened attentively, asked many ([uestions 
of his highness, and l)y his manner showed that he had been 
aroused to a deep inierest in the subject.* 

* Sparks' Writiuys of Waslilugton. 



Tlial young otfiix-r was Marie Paul /t>siph koch Yih's Gilliert 
Moticr, .]/ar//t/is dc Lafayette, born at ('ha\aniac, in Auvcrgnu, 
ihe 6th of September, 1757, and at that time nineteen years of 
age. 

The generous nature of Lafayette was stirred by the recital 
of the wrongs of .\merii:a, even as jialhate*! b)- the natural 
l(.)yalty (jf a British oflicer, l.)rotlK'r (jf the reigning sovereign ; 
and before he left the tal>le " the impulse was strong within 
his breast to go to America and offer his services to a i)eoiile 
who were struggling for freedom and indei)endence." 

"From that hour he could think of nothing but this chiv- 
alrous enterprise. He resolved to go to Paris and make further 
inquiries." 

Such was the origin of that devotion to .\merica and 
American liberties wliicli made the name of Lafayette famous 
throughout the world as the champion of the United States. 

THE t'AAULV OF I,.\I' AYETTE. 

Lafayette was born of a warlike family. His uncle was 
killetl in the wars of Italy. His father, Michel Louis Chris- 
tophe Roch (lilbert de Mortier, ALirquis de I,afayette, Colonel of 
the Grenadiers and Chevalier de St. Louis, was one of the most 
distinguished officers of the French Army. Lie was killed at 
the battle of INIinden by a cannond)all, before he had reached 
the age of twenty-five, but not before he had gi\en proofs of 
great military talents and e.xaltecl courage. The mother of the 
young INLiniuis was Marie L(.)uise Julie de la Riviere, daughter 
of Joseph Yves Thibauld Hyacinthe, ALu-(iuis de la Riviere. 
She was a kind, wise and \ irtuous woman, of whom her son 
in after years ever spoke most tenderly, and whose loss he 
tleeply felt at the early age oi twelve years. His maternal 
grandfather dying a tew days after liis mother, Lafiyette in- 
herited from him a large fi)rtune, yielding him an annual rev- 
enue of nearly 540,000. 



5 

At the age of sixteen tlie young nolileman was married, on 
the nth of April, 1774, to Marie Adrienne Francoise, daugh- 
ter of lean Paul Franeoise de Noailles, Duke tl'Ayen, a lovely 
girl of hfteen years, who afterwards, by her devotion to her 
husband in his long years of 'adversity and imprisonment, gave 
the added lustre of woman's self-sacrifice to the name of La- 
fayette. 

HIS PREPAliATlONS FOR AMERICA. 

The story of Lafayette's departure for America can best be 
told in his own words. In his "Memoirs written by My- 
self"* he thus relates it: 

When I lirst learned the subject of the ciuarrel my heart 
espoused warmly the cause of liberty, and I thought of nothing 
but of adding also the aid of my banner. Some circumstances, 
which it would be needless to relate, had taught me to expect 
nothing but ojiijosititni from my family. I depended therefore 
solely on myself, and I ventured to adopt, for a device on my 
arms, these words, cuk non ?— that they might serve both as 
an encouragement to myself and an answer to others. 

Silas Deane was then the representative of America at I'aris. 
When I presented to Mr. Deane my boyish flice (for I was 
scarcely nineteen years of age) I spoke more of my zeal m 
the cause than of my experience, but I dwelt much u])on the 
effect my dei)arture would produce in France, and he signed 
our mutual agreement. The secresy witn which this negotia- 
tion and my subsequent preparations were made api)ears al- 
most a miracle. Family, friends, ministers, French spies and 
English spies, all were kept completely in the dark as to my 

intentions. 

if * * * * * * * * 

I'reparations were making to send a vessel to .America when 
very bad tidings arrived from there. New York, Long Island, 



' Publisliod by his I'amily, and oditcd by his sou, George Washiugtou Lafayette. 



6 

While I'lains, Fort Washington, and the Jerseys had successively wit- 
nessed the destruction of the American forces by thirty tliousand 
Enghshmen and (lermans. Three thousand Americans alone re- 
mained in arms, anil these were closely pursued by (ieneral 
Howe. From that moment all the credit of the insurgents 
vanished; to obtain a vessel for them was impossible; the en- 
voys themselves thought it right to express to me their own 
discouragement, and persuaded me to abandon my project. 

I calle<l upon Mr. Deane and thanked him fcjr his frank- 
ness. "Until now, sir," said I, "you have only seen my ardor 
in your cause, and that may not prove at present wholly use- 
less. I shall purchase a ship to carry out your officers: we 
must teel confidence in the future, and it is especially in the 
hour of danger that I wish to share your fortunes." My pro- 
ject was received with ai)i)robation, Init it was necessary U) fmil 
money and purchase and arm a vessel secretly. All this was 
accompHshed. with the utmost (bspatch. 

LAFAYETTE VISITS ENGLAND. 

""Hie period, however, was a\)proaching which had been long 
fixed for my taking a journey to Flngland. I could not refuse 
to go without risking the discovery of my secret, and by con- 
senting to take this tri|) I knew I could the better conceal my 
preparations for a longer one. It was also thought expedient 
that I should go, by Messrs. Franklin and Deane, for the tloc- 
tor himself was then in France, and although I did not venture 
to go to his house for fear of being seen, 1 corresponded with 
him through Mr. Carmichael, an American less generally known. 

"I arrived in London with M. de Poix and paid my respects 
first to Bancroft, the American, and afterwards to his British 
Majesty. A youth of nineteen may be, perhaps, loo fond of 
Inlaying a trick upon the king he is going to fight against — 
of dancing at the house of Lord Ciermain. Minister for the Kng- 
lish C<jlonies, and at the house of Lord Rawdoii. who had 



just returned from New York, anil of seeing at the oi)era that 
Clinton whom he was afterwards to meet at ]\h)nmouth, 
but whilst I concealed my intentions I openly avowed my sen- 
timents. I often defended the Americans; I rejoiced at their 
success at Trenton ; and my spirit of opposition obtained for 
me an invitation to breakfast with Lord Shelbourne, (the leader 
of the opposition.) I refused, however, the offers made me 
to visit the seaports, the vessels fitting out against the 'rebels,' 
and everything that might be construed with a l)reach ot con- 
fidence. At the end of three weeks, when it became neces- 
sary for me to return home, whilst refusing my uncle, the 
ambassador, (the Marcpiis de Noailles, ) to accompany him to 
court, 1 confided to him a strong desire to take a trip to Paris. 
He i)roposed, saying Uiat 1 was ill during my absence. I should 
not have made use of this strategem myself, but I did not 
object to his doing it." 

HE RETURNS TO FR.\NCE. 

"After having suffered dreadfully in the channel, and being 
reminded, as a consolation, how very short the voyage wt)uld 
be, I arrived at the house of M. Kail), (the Baron de Kalb 
who subseiiuently went to America with Lafayette,) in Paris, 
concealed myself for three days at C'haillot, (on the suburbs 
of Paris.) saw a few of my friends, and set out for P)ordeaux, 
where I was for some time unexpectedly delayed. I look ad- 
vantage of the delay to send to Paris, whence the intelligence 
I received was by no means encouraging ; and, as my messen- 
ger was followed by one from the government, I lost no time 
in setting sail, and the orders of my Sovereign only overtook 
me at Passage, a Spanish post at whi<:h we stopjjed on our 
way. The letters from my own family were extremely violent, 
and those fr(jm the government were peremptory. I was for- 
bidden to proceed to the American continent under the pen- 
alty of disobedience. I was commanded to repair instantly to 



Marseilles, aiul there await furtlier orders. 1 was warned of the 
consenuences of defying the laws of the kingdom, and of sub- 
jecting myself to the displeasure of the government, but the 
grief of my wife, who was eiicieiUc, and the disai)])robation of 
my family were to me matters of far greater consideration." 

HE SAILS FOR AMERICA. 

But Lafayette had devoted himself to the salvation of a 
pco])le with all the energy and self-negation of his nature, 
and he did not stop to count the cost of the sacrifice. Leav- 
ing his king indignant at the defiance of his subject, his falnily 
full of liitterness at what they considered the wilful i)erversity 
of the youth on whom were centered all their ho[)es and in- 
terests, and his devoted wife overwhelmed with grief at her 
untimely separation from the husband of her young love, he 
set sail on the 26th of April, 1777, in La Victoric (auspicious 
name) for the American cc)ntinent. 

I'he court of France, believing the Colonies to be at that 
time desperate, and unwilling to provoke a war with Great 
Britain, considered itself compromised l)y the action of Lafa- 
yette, and sent orders to the Leeward and Windward islands to 
stop him on his way. He, however, had antici^jated these orders, 
and the ca^jtain of his ship, although very anxious to touch at 
these islands, was prevailed upon by mingled bribes and threats 
to continue on the direct course to .Vmerica. The Maniuis, 
having discovered that the real motive of the captain's opjJO- 
sition to his wishes was a cargo valued at S8,ooo. which he de- 
sired to land at the islands, secured the amount to him upon 
the ])ledge of his own jirivate fortune, anil thus succeeded in 
overcoming all his scruples. 

LAKAVEITE ARRIVES IN AMERICA. 

.Mter a seven weeks' voyage Lafiiyette arrived off the coast 
of South Carolina, on the 14th of June. 1777, and to avoid 



9 

the risk of c;i])turc by English cruisers, landeil in a canuc by 
night, at Cicorgetown, a village on the coast. 

•'When they landed," says Mr. Sparks, (in his writings of 
Washington,) "a distant light servetl to guide them. As they 
a|)[H"oached the house from whence it issued, the dogs l)arked, 
and tile people at ilrst took them for a band of marauders, 
landing from an enemy's ship. They were asketl who they 
were and what they wanted. Baron de Kalb replied, and 
all susjiicions vanished. The next morning was beautiful. The 
novelty of all that surroundetl him, the l)ed covered with mos- 
(juito nets, the black servants who came to ask his commands, 
the beauty and foreign aspect of tlie country which he beheld 
from his windows, antl which was covered by a rich vegeta- 
tion — all united to produce on M. de Lafayette a magical ef- 
fect and excite in him a variety of inexpressible sensations." 

Writing, on the day after his arrival, to his y(.)ung wife, to 
whom he was devotedly attached, Lafayette gives his first im- 
pression of America : 

" 1 have arrived, my dearest love, in i)erfect health, at the 
house of an American officer, and l)y the most fortunate chance 
in the world, a French vessel is on the point of sailing ; con- 
ceive how happy I am ! 

'■The manners in this part of the world are simiile, polite, 
and worthy in every res[)ect of the country in which the noI)le 
name of liberty is constantly rei)eated." The house at which 
he lainled was Major lienjamin Huger's, a gentleman oi' fine mil- 
itary reputation and social })Osition. The son of tliis gentle- 
man, many years afterwards, risked his life and lost his liberty 
in an attempt to rescue Lafayette, then closely confined as a 
prisoner for life in the dungeons of Olmut/. The story of 
that attempt will be related hereafter. 

At ALijor Huger's he was most hospital)ly entertaineil by 
'•this very kind officer." Lafayette's favorable impressions of 



10 



the country were rapidly conriiiucd. Writing, a few days after, 
again to liis wife, this time fnnn Charleston, he says luuler dale 
of June 19th : 

'■ 1 shall now speak to you, my love, about the country and 
its inhabitants, who are as agreeable as my enthusiasm had led 
me to imagine. Sim[)lit:ity of manner, kindness of heart, love 
of country and of liberty, and a delightful state of equality are 
met with universally. 

" Charleston is one of the best built, handsomest, and most 
agreeable cities that I have ever seen. The American women 
are very pretty and have great simplicity of character, and the 
extreme neatness of their appearance is truly admirable. Clean- 
Hness is even more stucboiisly attended to here than in Eng- 
kmd." No wonder that the Manpiis at once established him- 
self in the good graces of the American ladies. If he thus wrote 
of them to his wife how must he have talked to tJiein? "My 
own reception," he continues, " has been most agreeable. To 
have lieen merely my travelling companion suffices to secure 
the kindest welcome. I have just spent five hours at a hand- 
some entertainment given in my honor by a j)rominent gentle- 
man of this city. Ceneral Howe (of North Carolina) and 
Moultrie, and several officers of my suite were present. We 
drank each others healtli and endeavored to talk English, which 
I am beginning to s|)eak a little. I shall pay a visit to-mor- 
row, with these gentlemen, to the Oovernor of the State, and 
make the final arrangements for my departure." 

There were, however, some little annoyances that even Lafa- 
yette's enthusiasm could not ignore, and he thus alludes to them 
in closing this letter : 

"The night is far advanced, the heat intense, and /am de- 
voiircd liy ^i^nats. The best countries, as you perceive, ha\'e 
their incon\eniences. .\dieu. mv lo\e, adieu." 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



011 711 422 3 



